Runaway trainthemed escape room to open at Choo Choo
Chattanooga thrill seekers will soon be able to test their skills aboard a “runaway train,” rapidly moving down a one-way track and destined to collide with an oncoming train by the end of an hour.
Well, not really, but that’s the premise for the newest escape room developed by Escape Experience Chattanooga, which is opening a satellite location at the Chattanooga Choo Choo complex in May. The simulated game is a unique experience offered by the company and features real video footage and sound captured from the trains at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum.
While trains stopped departing from Terminal Station in 1970, players will have the opportunity to hop on a real Pullman sleeper car in the hotel’s courtyard and feel like they are aboard a real train because of the video, sounds and vibrations owner Michael Rowland and his employees have duplicate dinside of the rail car.
Players won’t look out the train car’s windows and see families and friends gathering in the Choo Choo hotel’s courtyard, but instead, will see screens with footage captured by GoPro cameras mounted to trains still in operation.
Rowland said the “premium” experience is oneof-a-kind and he isn’t aware of another escape room similar to it in the country.
“We are really trying to immerse people in the game,” he said. “We are going the extra mile to ensure they have the best experience.”
Before opening the new satellite room to the public at the end of May, Escape Experience is holding a contest and 15 winners will have a chance to try the room with their friends for free May 20 and 21. For more information and details on the “Runaway Train Transport” giveaway, visit escapeexperience.com/chattanooga/runaway-train-competition.
The game is spread across an entire train car at the Choo Choo and will require teamwork from the very beginning, Rowland said. Groups from two to eight players are locked in separate cells and must find a way out before continuing. The final details of the game are still being worked out, but essentially, players are in the witness protection program and are being taken by armored transport from a safe house to their trial.
But, as with all escape rooms, there’s a twist. The very mob that landed them in witness protection manipulates the tracks and turns it into a harrowing journey.
“You will probably never go to another room like this — at least within the next few years,” Rowland said. “The closest thing I can think of is a trailer that simulates a subway car.”
Rowland said the room will be similar in price to four other rooms the company offers at its main location at 800 Rossville Ave., Suite 1 in Chattanooga, which average about $30 per person. On Escape Experience’s website, it states the new game will mostly require teamwork, time management/leadership, communication and the ability to stay cool under pressure.
Adam Kinsey, president of Choo Choo Partners, which owns the hotel and entertainment complex developed on the former Norfolk Southern station property, said he began discussions with Rowland last November about building an experience in one of the train cars. Kinsey said Rowland set up a portable version of the experience for the MainX24 block party on Station Street, which garnered a lot of interest among customers.
“We have so much entertainment on the property, like music and comedy, we felt like this was also a good addition,” Kinsey said. “We think it adds a great thing for families to do during the day and a great activity for folks at night.”
While the Pullman train car never departed from Terminal Station in its operating days, it was brought onto the property in 1972 and converted into hotel rooms for guests, according to Kinsey. Several of the train cars are still hotel rooms, but Kinsey said they are looking for additional opportunities to use train cars that will be announced in the near future.